Caught
by FantasySci5
Summary: Rimmer might have FINALLY found his love! But can he save her, if she is stuck in the game! Updated!
1. The Girl

_Caught_

A.K.A-'My Better Than Life'

My original title was so dull, boring, unoriginal blah. I was re-doing many of my other fan fictions, so I thought I would change the title.

Disclaimer: I don't own them! No money made here!

Summary: Rimmer meets his girl, finally! But can he help her get out of the game, Better Than Life, if he is stuck there, too?

I was just watching 'Better than Life', and I wondered what happened to the rest of the mail. This story explains, and brings Rimmer love, and why his mind is so...messed up. Well, maybe not 'why'...

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Laurie looked about. She was no longer in the dull grey space port. She was in the doorframe of a golden door, beautifully carved. Another door just like it was a few feet away. In between the two doorways, there was a purple fog.

She stepped out into it. She could hardly see the surroundings around her. She stretched out her arms and waved them around. Then, her hand brushed on the doorway. She plunged through.

Suddenly, she was standing on a warm beach, bright sunlight shining down. She squinted her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, trying to adjust from the dark room to the bright day.

Suddenly, a hat appeared on her head, shielding her eyes from the sun. Looking out, she silently gasped as the beauty of it all soaked into her. The waves sent the taste of salt water down her throat.

This was the best beach she had ever seen. She had been working the ports for most of her life. She had never even been to a beach, but where there's ports, there's magazines. She would always pick up travelling magazines. Inside had been all kinds of beautiful beaches.

But this beach had surpassed them all by a long shot. She stepped forward and sharply inhaled. Her grey shoes had disappeared, and in it's stead, was red sandals. She slipped them off, and ran the warm sand through her newly painted toe-nails. It was perfectly balanced to be not burning, but not cold. This was paradise.

She heard a twig snap behind her, and the crunch of sand. She wiped around. Her frown became a confused smile as she saw the man standing in front of her. He had a goofy grin on his glowing face. His black, baggy pants were perfectly fitted onto him. A black tie intertwined with his neck. He was holding a red box that had a yellow halo, up to his bright red shirt. Underneath the halo, was the words 'Better Than Life' in beautifully crafted yellow & gold words.

The man started to walk toward her. He smiled a friendly smile, and said, "Mam. Welcome, To Better Than Life. You must be hungry, and there's a restr..."

Suddenly the background flickered. The wind stopped where it was, and the waves were in midair. The man's form flickered, then disappeared. She turned to the door, but it was glued shut. She was stuck!

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Don't worry if you have read this before! I won't change the actual story unless it's spelling, or I think it's really smeg. I just changed the format, what goes where, and author's notes.


	2. The Rememberance

_Caught-Part 2_

A.K.A-'My Better Than Life'

Hi! Well, I better get to writing this, lickety-split! Now, on to the characters we know!

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Rimmer looked up from his book, 'Dictators Rule'. Lister had zoned out on his top bunk. Cat and Kryten had to be in another room, and Holly was on 'down time'.

Rimmer had gotten over the shock of the last few days. Sure, Kryten had came back to the Red Dwarf after that whole 'Parallel Universe' thing. He had crashed Lister's space-bike. Lister had to put Kryten back together. Now the gimboid of a mechanoid didn't have his old personality, so he wouldn't take an order from Rimmer. Not unless Kryten felt that it was a good order.

Sure, Holly had fallen deeply in love with the alternative personality of himself. Love stricken after leaving the parallel universe, he had performed a head sex change. Now he had the face of Hilly, his counterpart.

Sure Rimmer had adjusted to these changes. But the events of when they were in 'Better Than Life' still rang through his brain.

He was having a real nice time, getting to touch things; food, women... But then it had went all horribly wrong. His sick mind had taken control. Not being able to accept good things happening to Rimmer, the dream had turned into a nightmare.

It had made him mortgage his car, so it would be practical for his kids. Then the whole 'kid' business. His brief 'time' with Yvonne McGruder, had turned into her getting pregnant. Then, his mind had made Rimmer marry her.

After that ordeal, Outland Revenue turned up, demanding payment. That letter Lister had read him, about him owing eight thousand five hundred pounds.

Then, his twisted mind had a tarantula crawl up his trousers. After Lister and Cat told Rimmer to fantasize it all away, Rimmer, Lister, Cat, and Holly were buried in sand, faces smeared with jam, about to be eaten by killer ants. Rimmer had had this happen to him as a boy, by his brothers. Coincidence? Rimmer thought not.

Then, he had finally transported them back to the Red dwarf. Or so they thought. A twinge of hope entered, saying that Rimmer was actually an officer. But all that faded when the taxman for Outland Revenue jumped out of the cupboard.

Rimmer couldn't believe he had ruined the game so much. He was afraid what his brain was hiding from him. It had been going so well...

Rimmer felt deep in his heart that he wanted to try the game out again. He was afraid, though, that his diseased mind would take control. Rimmer vowed to himself that that would not happen again.

Rimmer quietly stood up from his bunk. He glanced at the pile of papers and letters covering the table in the officer's quarters that Lister and himself now occupied.

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Hi! Hoped you liked it! Well, that being the summary of 'Better Than Life', it's time to move the story forward! Review, please! But don't be harsh. No one's perfect...especially the Boyz from the Dwarf!

Additional AN: I usually procrastinate on my stories-either writing them or re-doing them. It's about time I re-did my stories to make them look better! And, I just want you to know (That I really care about you...JK ) that on most of my stories, if I say that I will finish it, someday, I will. It just takes me awhile!


	3. Trying it Out

_Caught-Part 3_

A.K.A-'My Better Than Life'

Hello! No time for formalities! The first part of the chapter is a flashback to earlier that day. _(It's in italics)_

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_Lister slumped in, carrying a large stack of letters. With a huff, he slammed the pile down on the table. Rimmer looked up from his hologramatic cup. _

_Lister looked at the stuff in the pile, telling Rimmer what was happening. "Wow, man! I can't believe we didn't finish sorting the mail after we got out of 'Better Than Life'." _

_As he said that, Kryten came in, followed by Cat. Both were carrying similar piles. As Kryten placed his stack on the pile on the table, papers flew everywhere, flying to the ground and making a big mess. _

_"Well, sirs, we only have a few more piles to go." Kryten and Cat went back into the corridor. Lister was about to go back, but then noticed Rimmer was unusually quiet. _

_"Hey, man. You aren't still worked up about that 'Better Than Life' thing? We forgave you!" Rimmer just shook his head. _

_Kryten walked back in with his pile, and pushed it on top of the all ready too large pile. Unknowing to anyone, the Better Than Life game was on top of the pile, as if placed there. _

_"Ok, guys! Let's go play poker!" Lister walked out, followed by Cat and Kryten. _

_Rimmer timidly followed, but the 'Better Than Life' game caught his eye. He stopped, and the thought to try it again, popped into his head. _

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Lister shifted in his sleep, his long snore pausing. Rimmer looked up, making sure Lister was still asleep.

He ushered in a skutter. He pointed to the 'Better Than Life' game, indicating the skutter to pick it up. It leaned forward, and quietly picked it up in it's claw. It hummed out of the door, Rimmer closely following.

The skutter plugged the long wire into the front screen. The gold letters 'Better Than Life' popped onto the screen, with a gold halo over the 'B' and 'L'.

Holly's golden haired head appeared on the screen. She blinked then mumbled, "Oy! What's happening here?"

"Holly, can you hear me?"

"Yes, what ya want!"

"Plug me into the game."

"Arnie, are you crazy! I might be senile, but my memory has not shattered like a store brand pancake!"

Rimmer rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Holly, plug me IN! I can control what happens. It's my chances, and I'm not hurting anyone but myself. Holly, they won't even notice!"

Holly had a concerned look on her face, but she agreed.

"Your light bee will be turned to low power, so you will be see-through as a cheap mirror. You can stay in there longer, and no one will be able to see you. You sure you can handle it! Why take the risk!"

Rimmer just shook his head and whispered the command. "Plug me in Holly, and get on with it."

Rimmer's head whipped around on his shoulders, as sparks flew from the main control power. Rimmer's hologramatic body crumpled to the ground as the electrical surges powered through his data disk. His body sparkled as he became less able to see.

Holly's head flickered, as more sparks rained down from the ceiling.

The ship lurched forward as Holly's even voice echoed throughout the ship.

"Oops! Power surge shortage! Haven't seen sparks like that since the fireworks those Americans put off on the 4th of July!"

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Hi! Just thought I would let you know a few things! 1st of all, I'm American, so I'm not making fun of the American July the 4th! And, second...well, I don't have a list...so never mind!


	4. Caught!

_Caught-Part 4_

A.K.A-'My Better Than Life'

Hello! Sorry for the LONG wait! I dunno what's wrong! Okay...erm. Here it is! And did you notice how creative my title is! sarcastically rolls eyes Anyway...that doesn't matter. I should have named it 'Caught' or something. Well, too late now! Be warned...next chapter will be under the name of 'Caught'. So, basically, I'm changing the name of this fic, but don't be alarmed. Okay, stop listening to my rant and go read! (Revised AN: And I DID!)

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Rimmer painful rippled into existence on the sandy paradise beach that he had been before. Only instead of a bright sunny day, it was like being in the middle of a hurricane. The palm trees were leaning heavily to one side as the wind pushed hard against them. Rain was pouring down, feeling almost like tiny bullets. The 'sand' he was standing on was nothing more than mud, as far as the eye could see. The gentle waves that had been there before had turned into great monsters, that grew bigger by the second, then slammed down onto the land. Storm clouds were crashing in, with great rolls of deep thunder and flashing lightening.

Suddenly, one of the palm trees snapped, and the top part of it came whooshing towards him. He heard a shout from somewhere else, then ducked. He slipped, then fell flat on his face in the mush. He shook his head, then glanced back up. A great mother of a wave was looming over him, getting ready to let go all of its anger.

He saw a blur in the corner of his eye, then felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into the most beautiful face he had ever seen. Prettier than even Yvonne McGruder. She had a round cheery face, her cheeks deep red from the force of the wind, and her shoulder length hair whipped around her head. A few strands of chocolate brown hair slapped into his face, as he stared open mouthed.

"Come on!" She yelled over the howling of the wind, as she tugged at his arm. He scrambled up, and followed her as they both ran away from the center of the storm. Looking back, he saw that the golden door that had been the entrance to BTL, had been ripped from the sand, and was now soaring in the air. The wind carried most of it towards a small shelter 10 yards away, that just happened to be where they were going. It reached there before them, and flew through the roof of the shack. The roof caved in from the impact, until it was just a pile of wood and glittering gold.

"Smeg!" She shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. Rimmer vaguely wondered why he hadn't arrived within the doors like he had last time, but didn't have time to speculate. The storm clouds fully covered the overcast sun, until the land was shrouded in darkness. It was midnight black, which surprised both of them. The girl tripped, and slammed into the ground. Rimmer heard a sickening crunch, and a gasp of pain. He didn't know what to do. Slowly, he sank down onto the ground next to her fallen body. He reached out a hand, to see if she was alright, but was met with a sticky, gooey substance, he had a feeling was blood.

"Are you alright!" He sighed over the deafening wind. "Ughn..." was all she answered back.

Then, the storm was upon them. The wind was strong enough to push even a quarterback across a football field. The rain came down so thick that it was like a sheet of ice cold water. Lightening lit the sky right next to them. In that second, he looked over at her. Her pain-filled eyes caught his, as thunder erupted right above them. Then, another round of lightening flashed right at them, and Rimmer had the strange feeling of conducting electricity.

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Rimmer came around on hard frozen dirt. He groaned, and only then did he notice that he had passed out. He looked around for the girl that had been there with him, and found her huddled in a ball a few feet away. They were in a cave, fog obscuring the opening. He heard distant rumbling, and knew they were safe from harm at the moment.

He sat up, and felt a prickling in his right leg. He looked down, and saw blood pumping out of his torn pant leg. He was fine everywhere else except there. He looked up at the girl, who had her head in her hands. "Are you okay?" his raspy voice asked quietly.

She jerked awake, her hands thrashing out as if in a defensive position. "You're awake! I'm so glad. I'm fine. Are you okay; how do you feel!"

Rimmer shrugged. "Just my right leg. Its throbbing and it hurts." She nodded, reaching out her hand slowly, until it was gently placed on his leg. He winced in pain. "Well, you're lucky. This place is crazy. Lightening went right through your leg and into the ground."

Rimmer's mouth popped open as she said this. She got up, and hissed in pain as she put pressure on her left foot. Rimmer used a cave wall to help himself up, then he lent an arm for her to hold on to.

"I'm Arnold Rimmer, by the way."

"Laurie Hillurberry. I'm American. And I can hear you're British."

"Yeah. What happened?"

"Well, I tried out the new Total Immersion Video Game, Better Than Life. It had just been given out to the public. Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of a storm, and stuck in this game."

Rimmer scratched his head, trying to make sense of it. He had played it with Lister and Cat, and it had worked perfectly.

"I don't get it. I've played this once before, and nothing bad happened...well. None of this nature-is-trying-to-kill-us."

"I got my game used. I think that it's a design fault. After you have played it once, it starts to break down."

"Wait. Did you say you played it once it came out! Over three million years ago!"

Laurie gasped, and watched him in disbelief. "Three million years! I've been stuck in here a long time, but not THAT long!"

"That means that even if we do find a way out of here, you won't have a body to go back to!"

"Oh, smeg."

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Okay, I just wanted to tell you that time in the real world is longer than time in Better Than Life.


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